Workplace violence

Workplace violence

 Introduction

Currently, cases of workplace violence are prevalent in the world. Violence in the workplace is kind of a threat or a physical act, intimidation, harassment and any other type of threatening a very disrupting mode of conduct in the place of work. Such violence is in a different kind of categories ranging from homicide, verbal abuse, physical harassment and other types of behavior such as discrimination based on color, religion or country of origin. Every individual can be a victim of workplace violence; therefore, affirmed that employees, visitor’s clients, customers, and visitors could as well be affected by workplace violence.

In My placement is at culinary managements in centennial   college, I come across violence in work, confirming that every worker would like to have a pleasant working environment where they feel safe and secure. There are many signs an employee should be aware of workplace violence. Indicators can make subtle, while others are blatant. The leading indicators of workplace violence witnessed are statements indicating desperation to the point of contemplating suicide; Pending or recent layoffs; Drug abuse; and Extreme changes in behavior. Other more direct and blatant signs that workplace violence may occur are Direct or veiled threats of harm; Intimidating, belligerent, harassing, bullying, or other inappropriate and aggressive behavior; numerous conflicts with supervisors and other employees and bringing a weapon to the workplace, brandishing a gun in the workplace, making inappropriate references to firearms, or fascination with weapons; Statements showing charm with incidents of workplace violence, statements indicating approval of the use of force to resolve a problem, or reports indicating identification with perpetrators of workplace homicides (Kellowayet al ,2017).

I in my experience at my place of work I and have witnessed bullying and threats in some departments. I advise that every person need to be secure while in areas of employment, ways to mitigate workplace violence should be set. For one, solve the ongoing workplace violence, I affirm that there is a need for the top management to chip in and intervene. What the leaders of my workplace could place at times showed an emphasis on preventing workplace violence. To accomplish this, leaders must know the organization’s programs and prevent barriers to affect the implementation of these programs.  Underreporting workplace violence and its warning signs are one of the largest areas leaders must work on. People showed that they don’t want to feel they are “ratting out” their coworker. This allows the behavior to continue and possibly increase to more aggressive acts of workplace violence (Gadegaard et al.,2018).

The management could, at times play a responsibility in investigating all acts of violence, threats or similar disruptive behavior promptly and not ignore or deny facts that are there.  Leaders encouraged employees who show signs of stress or evidence of possible workplace violence to seek assistance.  Another responsibility for leaders and security personnel was the implementation of security and protective measures to help defuse violent behaviors and protect those who are experiencing it.  Finally, employees and managers were trained to understand and gain knowledge that they are responsible for their conduct and the policies regarding workplace violence.

It is also evident that many of the workplace violence are neither reported to the senior management nor not prevalent. Recent data shows in Canada; many employees tend to be victims of workplace violence though they do not use proper methods to solve the conflicts arising from such situations. It is the role of the institution management to ensure that all workers have good cellular access to WIFI connection; this will help in facilitating communication in times of emergency. It will assist in initiating faster, direct and informative communication among the employees and the management, which is very efficient and essential in the workplace.

Protecting the workplace and the employees from violence is essential. These could be achieved through the installation of a security camera in the vulnerable building such as parking garage and main entrances; these would help in deterring the criminal activities in the workplace. It is essential to know that the employer must play like understand them and recognize the essence of addressing workplace violence through setting policies like having mock training exercise, adoption of zero tolerance to workplace violence establishing an emergency action plan and employee training.

From the my experience  I  believe  that coping with skills help to handle stress and reduce workplace violence. Understanding and identifying trends and the effects they have on the organization can reduce the probability of workplace violence. This can be done through education and communication. Coming up with new policies indeed help to reduce workplace violence. In case there was workplace violence occurred, systems should be in place to assist those affected and to assist them in coping with it.Workplace violence is not always predictable or prevented.  The implementation of effective policies and procures are the best defense for an organization.  Having an employee handbook aligned with periodic training are prevention measures every organization should implement.

Generally , there is need of the government to come up with new policies and strategies aimed at creating awareness on the issue of workplace violence; every employee needs to be safe and secure in their place of work as the will enable them to commit themselves fully to the assigned roles thus meeting the companies target.

References

Copeland, D., & Henry, M. (2017). Workplace violence and perceptions of safety among emergency department staff members: experiences, expectations, tolerance, reporting, and recommendations. Journal of trauma nursing, 24(2), 65-77.

Dollard, M. F., Dormann, C., Tuckey, M. R., & Escartín, J. (2017). Psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and enacted PSC for workplace bullying and psychological health problem reduction. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 26(6), 844-857.

Francis, L. D., & Gatien, B. (2017). Management of occupational health and safety. Nelson.

Friend, M. A., & Kohn, J. P. (2018). Fundamentals of occupational safety and health. Rowman & Littlefield.

Gadegaard, C. A., Andersen, L. P., & Hogh, A. (2018). Effects of violence prevention behavior on exposure to workplace violence and threats: a follow-up study. Journal of interpersonal violence, 33(7), 1096-1117.

Kelloway, E. K., Nielsen, K., & Dimoff, J. K. (Eds.). (2017). Leading to Occupational Health and Safety: How Leadership Behaviours Impact Organizational Safety and Well-Being. John Wiley & Sons.